At Rocca Family Vineyards, we believe deeply that all great wines are made in the vineyard. Our winemaker, Paul Colantuoni, and vineyard manager Sergio Melgoza work very closely together, taking tremendous care to ensure that our vineyards produce grapes of the highest possible quality. In 2012, Mother Nature gave them everything they could hope for: an utterly perfect, classic Napa Valley growing season from start to finish. Conditions that they call “textbook”, “ideal”, and “superb” led to a rare combination of excellence and abundance in the vineyards, and allowed us to select only the most perfect grapes for our wine-making endeavors. They are extroverted and charismatic, packed with rich fruit and characterized by soft, luscious tannins and exquisite balance.
The 21-acre Grigsby Vineyard is ideally located on the northern edge of Stags Leap District. This stunning site is surrounded by Napa Valley most elite and most sought after wines. In 2014 the temperatures during the long growing season were warm enough to produce ultra ripe and deeply flavorful Cabernet but the cool evening winds gave this Cab the perfect touch of finesse and balance.
The idea for Rocca Family Vineyards began In 1995, Mary Rocca and her husband Dr. Eric Grigsby began a quest for the perfect vineyard. Their three years later: a 21-acre vineyard nestled on the border of Stags Leap District of the Napa Valley (Grigsby Vineyard) They called upon renowned winemaker Celia Welch Masyczek to produce the label’s first vintage in 1999. By 2002 the Grigsby Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon came in #1 in a blind tasting of 12 Rising Star Cabernets at the Vintners Club tasting in the U.S. Later, the wine was chosen # 1 in France’s 12 Best Cabernets from California. Years of crushing accolades have established Rocca as one of the industry’s finest wine producers.. In 2008, Celia passed the winemaking baton to Paul Colantuoni, who continues to produce world-class wines under the Rocca label.
☛ Grigsby: Next to 100pt Kapcsandy, Odette, Realm & Stags Leap Wine Cellars!
☛ Celia Welch: 100pt winemaker (Scarecrow, Dr. Stephens, Corra & Rocca!)
☛ Paul Colantuoni: Vieux Télégraphe → Brancaia → 98-100pt Ehren Jordan protège
☛ #1 in 12 Best Cabernets from California
☛ 4.4 ⭐ Similar wines usually cost 3 times as much.
Rocca Tesorina “Little Treasure” 95 points Robert Parker
100% Estate organically grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Aging: 20 months in small French oak barrels, 80% new
Our goal at Rocca is to make wines that reflect, as fully and faithfully as possible, the unique characteristics of the vineyards from which they come. To this end, all of our wines are made exclusively from our own organically farmed, estate grown grapes, which we selectively harvest by hand in the cool hours of the night. Once the fruit has been picked, we take an emphatically hands-off, non-interventionist approach to wine-making. The grapes are destemmed as gently as possible, and are allowed to ferment with the vineyard’s own indigenous yeasts. The wine is then gently pressed off, and transferred into tight-grain French oak barriques for aging. In assembling the blend for Tesorina, we carefully select individual barrels from the very finest lots of the vintage, in a passionate effort to create the most complete and beautiful expression possible of our estate vineyards
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At Rocca Family Vineyards, we only bottle Tesorina — our “little treasure” — when we have the opportunity to create a benchmark, iconic expression of the quality and personality of our estate vineyards in a truly great vintage. It’s the very pinnacle of what we do, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have Tesorina back in the lineup in 2012. The wine’s dense, concentrated ruby/purple color serves as a perfect introduction to the depth and richness that it holds in store. On the nose, there’s a fascinating impression of both breadth and verticality. Ethereal high tones of violets and purple lilac flowers, rock dust, eucalyptus, talcum powder and lavender float up from a deep, expansive core of sweet ripe blackberries, crème de cassis, raspberry syrup and black cherries. The wine shows warm chocolate notes as it opens up, along with elegant flourishes of cedar and graphite. The approach is soft and broad and rich, with effusive flavors of sumptuous ripe fruit that build and expand to completely surround the palate. Our favorite characteristic of this wine, though, is its exquisite texture. There’s a ton of substance here, carried on an intricately woven structure of the beautifully silky, sweet, luscious tannins that are the hallmark of Napa Valley. It’s a compelling balance of power and grace, and we hope you’ll treasure it for many years to come.
Rocca “Grigsby Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon 94 points Robert Parker & 94 points James Suckling
Varietal composition: 100% Organic Estate Grown Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon
Aging: 21 months in small French oak barrels, 70% new
Rocca “Grigsby Vineyard” Cabernet Sauvignon is the deepest, richest, most complete and balanced version of this wine we’ve ever produced. It shows gorgeous weight and density, supported by the exquisitely resolved tannins of the extraordinary 2013 vintage. The overall theme here is one of perfectly ripe dark red fruit, especially sweet black cherries, beautifully complemented by sophisticated spice and floral elements as well as prominent notes of vineyard dust and rock quarry dust. The quality of the vintage is particularly evident on the mid-palate, where tremendous richness perfectly matches the luscious black cherry flavors, and on a highly polished, silky smooth finish that seems to last forever. This is one that we’ll be enjoying for a long, long time to come.
Rocca “Vespera” Napa Valley Red Blend : (Latin) Evening, a time of gathering with family and friends
Varietal composition: 72% Cabernet Sauvignon, 16% Syrah, 12% Merlot
Aging: 19 months in small French oak barrels, 60% new French oak barrels
Napa Valley’s unique growing conditions proved to be especially conducive to crafting wines with the charming, easily accessible, warmly welcoming personality that is the hallmark of our Vespera. The aromas here are rich and inviting, with a dusty red fruit character that calls to mind foraging through a raspberry patch at the end of a hot, dry summer. As the wine opens up, enticing notes emerge of milk chocolate, cinnamon, black pepper, spiced cherry sauce, and even a hint of fried sage. The approach is gorgeously smooth and easy, carrying mouth-watering flavors of spicy ripe raspberries across the palate. The finish shows a wonderful savory quality, and a charismatic flourish of oak spice at the very end. There’s lovely restraint to the vintage’s soft, caressing tannins, allowing the wine to express its delicious flavors with an exceptionally delicate touch.
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